Jesus and Muhammad

Parallel Tracks, Parallel Lives

F. E. Peters

This books puts Jesus and Muhammad side by side under the historians' analytical glass without polemical argument.

Jesus and Muhammad

Parallel Tracks, Parallel Lives

F. E. Peters

Description

Jesus and Muhammad are two of the best known and revered figures in history, each with a billion or more global followers. Now, in this intriguing volume, F.E. Peters offers a clear and compelling analysis of the parallel lives of Jesus and Muhammad, the first such in-depth comparison in print. Like a detective, Peters compiles "dossiers" of what we do and do not know about the lives and portraits of these towering figures, drawing on the views of modern historians and the evidence of the Gospels and the Quran. With erudition and wit, the author nimbly leads the reader through drama and dogma to reveal surprising similarities between the two leaders and their messages. Each had a public career as a semi-successful preacher. Both encountered opposition that threatened their lives and those of their followers. Each left a body of teaching purported to be their very words, with an urgent imperative that all must become believers in the face of the approaching apocalypse. Both are symbols of hope on the one hand and of God's terrible judgment on the other. They are bringers of peace--and the sword. There is, however, a fundamental difference. Muslims revere Muhammad ibn Abdullah of Mecca as a mortal prophet. Although known as a prophet in his day, the Galilean Jew Jesus was and is believed by his followers to have been the promised Messiah, indeed the son of God. The Quran records revelations received by Muhammad as the messenger of God, whereas the revelations of the Gospels focus on Jesus and the events of his life and death. A lasting contribution to interfaith understanding, Jesus and Muhammad offers lucid, intelligent answers to questions that underlie some of the world's most intractable conflicts.

Jesus and Muhammad

Parallel Tracks, Parallel Lives

F. E. Peters

Table of Contents

1. Clearing the Ground2. The Settings3. Opening the Files4. The Critic at Work5. The Living Voice6. The Message: Jesus in Galilee7. The Message: Muhammad at Mecca8. Tragedy and Triumph9. A New Dawn: The Aftermath, The Legacy10. Epilogue: Spreading the Word A Guide to Further ReadingNotes Index

Jesus and Muhammad

Parallel Tracks, Parallel Lives

F. E. Peters

Author Information

F. E. Peters is Professor Emeritus of Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies and Religion at New York University and a scholar and teacher of classics, philosophy, urbanism, Middle Eastern history, and Islamic Studies. The author of pioneering comparative studies of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, Peters remains a leader in this field.

Jesus and Muhammad

Parallel Tracks, Parallel Lives

F. E. Peters

Reviews and Awards

"Frank Peters has courage! In his latest book, this seasoned and knowledgeable scholar unravels the multiple layers of the interpretations surrounding the lives, contributions, and significance of no less than Christ and Muhammad. In a lucid and clear style, he manages to explain the enormity and variety of the debates that have flourished around every aspect of the reality and legends surrounding Christ and Muhammad, and to do so while retaining the depth of interpretation and of analysis that such a complex topic requires. It takes decades of reflection and of study to reach the level of sophistication yet clarity that this book achieves." --Leila Fawaz, Issam M. Fares Professor of Lebanese and Eastern Mediterranean Studies and Founding Director of the Fares Center for Eastern Mediterranean Studies, Tufts University

"This comparative work shows how faith can forge bonds even when the faiths are quite different. Frank Peters's extensive familiarity with these two faiths bears exceptional fruit in this extended comparison." --David Burrell, C.S.C., Professor of Ethics and Development, Uganda Martyrs University and Hesburgh Professor Emeritus in Philosophy and Theology, University of Notre Dame

"Peters' work is both clearly structured and written, showing considerable knowledge of both faiths."--Journal for the Study of the New Testament

Jesus and Muhammad

Parallel Tracks, Parallel Lives

F. E. Peters

From Our Blog

By F. E. Peters The Imitatio Christi, composed by the German monk Thomas Kempis (d. 1471), is a classic of Christian spirituality, widely read and translated from Latin into a variety of languages. It is not of course an instructional manual for the imitation of Christ ' how does one imitate the Son of God? ' nor Jesus of Nazareth, the man born of woman who was revealed to be the Son of God. Kempis' famous work has little to do with the Jesus of the Gospels and more to do with Aristotle and the theology faculty at the University of Paris (he disapproved) and the Fathers of the Desert in early Christian Egypt (he approved, with reservations; they were a bit excessive in their asceticism).